Conveyer



y 1932- A. J. REBSTOCK 1,355,262

CONVEYER Filed April 28, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l Patented May 3, 1932 AUGUST J. REIBSTOGK, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNORTO THE REBSTO CK COMPANY,

OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF MISSOURI CONVEYER Application filed April 28,

My invention relates to improvements in conveyers and has for its primary object a conveyer adapted for warehouses by means of which articles can be taken from the receiving room and conveyed automatically to various floors of the warehouse.

A further object is to construct a conveyor so that the articles handled therein can be automatically delivered at a predetermined floor, the delivery floor being determined from the receiving room.

A still further object is to construct a conveyer which can be readily placed in a present elevator shaft, thus obviating the necessity of enpensive reconstruction or alteration of a building.

My device has this particular advantage in that as the goods are received in the receiv ing room, they are automatically carried to the conveyer, carried to a predetermined floor and there discharged, thus doing away with the necessity of loading a truck or buggy in the receiving room pushing it on to a freight elevator, lifting the load to a predeterm ned floor then unloading the buggy and then again, returning the buggy to the receiving room; in other words, by the use of my conveyer, many handlings of the goods are done away with.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a fraginental sectional elevation of a building showing my device in position in an elevator shaft.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical fragmental section taken on the line 3--3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragment-a1 view showing the construction of the tipping device, and

Fig. 5 is a fragmental view of one of the conveyer chains showing one of the cleats carried thereby in section.

In construction of my device, 6 represents the receiving room which is preferably located in the basement of a warehouse, 7 the 1930. .Serial No. 447,868.

first floor, 8 the secondfloor, and 9 the third oor.

10 represents the freight elevator shaft of the building or structure. and 11 the door openings at the different floor levels.

Located in the elevator shaft are a plurality of standards 12 which extend verti cally of the shaft and are held in position by means of cross braces 13. These braces are supported to the front and rear walls of the shaft and hold the standards in upright position.

A numberof short braces 14 are connected to the standards 12 intermediate the braces 13 and to these braces 14 aresecured angle irons 15 and 16. Secured to the angle irons 15is a sheet metal wall 17. This sheet metal wall is provided with openings 18. The openings 18 are designed to be closed by means of vertically sliding doors 19, the sliding doors 19 have their lower ends inclined toward the door openings 11 as indicated in Fig. 3, so that they may rest on the chutes 20.

The doors 19 are mounted in slides 21 which slides are carried by the wall 17, but are separated far enough so that they will not interfere with the passage of the articles carried by the conveyer.

The chute is inclined downwardly and extends into the opening 11. The chutes 20 are also provided with sides 22 which prevent the articles from sliding sideways. The lower end of the chute 20 is supported on braces 23 which braces are carried by the angle irons 15 and 16.

The angle irons 16 also carry a sheet metal wall 24 which prevents the articles from falling backward into the shaft.

Carried by the braces 14; are angle irons 25 and 26 which form a guide for rollers 27 carried at predetermined points along the conveyer chains 28. It will be noted that the roller 27, as well as the chains 28 are directly opposite each other. Extending across between the chains are spaced apart cleats 30. These cleats are tilted forwardly as indicated in Fig. 5, so that when an article rests thereon, it will have a tendency to be tilted so that the upper end or edge of the article will rest against the wall 17.

In order to insure that the articles being moved upward by the conveyer are tilted so that they do rest against the wall 17 to provide a tipping device consisting of an arm 31, this arm projects upwardly and inwardly toward the wall 17, its upper end 32 being curved so that there will be no sharp edges to mar the package as it passes the end of the arm 31. The arm 31 is mounted on a pivot 33 which is carried in brackets 34 which brackets in turn are supported to the angle irons 16.

The pivot 33 is also provided with an arm 35 on which a counter-weight 36 is secured. The purpose of this counter-weight is to normally hold the tipping device or rather the arm 31 in the position shown in Fig. 4, but will permit this arm to move outward as an article passes it and then move back into position after the article has passed. The lower ends of the angle irons 15 are curved as indicated by the numeral 37 and the lower ends of the angles'16 are also curved as indicated by the numeral 38. This permits the articles being carried by the conveyer to readily enter the vertical portion of the conveyer.

The angles 38 are extended forward in a horizontal position as indicated by the numeral 39. The angles 25 and 26 are also curved around and extend forward in a horizontal manner as indicated by the numeral 40. This permits the lower end of the conveyer chain to travel in a horizontal manner, it passing around idler sprockets 41 which are carried by a support 42.

Carried by the uppermost end of the conveyer frame are driving sprockets 43. These sprockets are driven in any suitable manner and therefore, no specific driving means has been shown, it being essential, however, that the driving power be applied to the top of the conveyer.

44 represents an inclined chute down which the articles pass on to the conveyer after leaving a roller conveyer 45. In order to operate the sliding doors 19, an eye 46 is attached under the lower edge of the door and to this eye is attached a flexible cable 47.

. This cable passes around a sheave wheel 48.

It then passes down through the elevator shaft around a second sheave wheel 49 and terminates in a handle 50 in the receiving room.

It will be seen that by pulling on the handle 50 of a predetermined cable, the door at the floor to which this cable is attached will be opened. This permits the receiving clerk to automatically control and predetermine 1 to which floor of the warehouse the articles are to be delivered. For instance, one load of articles may be destined for the second floor and this delivery can be controlled directly by the receiving clerk. The next load for the third floor, in which instance, the receiving clerk closes the delivery door on the second floor and opens that on the third. This obviates the necessity of installing a telephone or signal system leading to the various floors and also places the direct responsibility for the proper delivery of the goods on the receiving clerk and no one else.

'My purpose in tilting the cleats 30 is so that an article on the cleat will be primarily supported by the rear edge 51 of the cleats 30 and since this support is beyond the center of gravity of the article, it will have a natural tendency to tilt forward without being acted upon by the tilting device, and again the cleats may be so tilted that articles having a low. center of gravity will slide therefrom and be delivered to the chutes.

The operation of my device is as follows:

The conveyers first placed in operation by means of imparting rotation to the sprocket wheels 43 causing the sprocket to rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1, then as the packages are delivered to the receiving room they are placed on the roller or gravity conveyer 45 and pass toward the shaft 10 by gravity; then these packages ride down the inclined chute 44 and on to the horizontal portion 39 coming to rest on the sheet metal wall 24; then as soon as one of the cleats 30 comes along the end of the package is contacted with and carried on the curved portion 38'.

During this time the package naturally rests against the sheet iron wall 24 and after passing around the curved portion 38, the

package is carried upwardly and if the edge 51 of the cleat 30 carrying the package is to the rear of the center of gravity of the package, it will automatically tilt forward and come into contact with the sheet metal wall 17, thus obviating the necessity of the tipping device operating, however, should the package be supported on the opposite side of its center of gravity, the tipping device will tilt the package forward so that its upper edge will rest against the sheet metal wall 17 and it will then be in position to tilt forward automatically and pass through any opening left by the raising of the door 19 and thus fall on to the chute 20 and be delivered to that particular floor of the warehouse wh-ere it can be automatically delivered either to the gravity conveyer or discharged on to the floor or any suitable conveyance and then be moved to its final storage position.

If the packages have a low center of gravity as aforementioned, the inclination of the cleats 30 is such that the packages will readily [ill slide off and be delivered to a chute when an opening is reached.

While I have shown only a single conveyer in an elevated shaft, it is to be understood that where a large elevator shaft is present, a plurality of conveyers can be arranged in one shaft, the essential feature being that each conveyer has its own delivery chute and door. In this way, numerous articles may be handled simultaneously and delivered to various floors, the number of articles so handled depending on the number of conveyers it is possible to install in the shaft.

My conveyer is adaptable to warehouses of various heights, the only change necessary being to increase the height of the conveyer commensurate with a number of floors in the warehouse.

I may also if desired, instead of opening the doors or closures from the receiving end of the conveyer, provide means on each floor for controlling the opening of such closures.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim is 1. A conveyer comprising a substantially vertically extending frame; a conveyer movable therein; means for delivering articles upon said conveyer; neans on and moving with said conveyer for supporting said articles in an oblique plane during their travel; means for discharging said articles at pre determined points of elevation, and means independent of said supporting means for engaging all of said supported articles below the lowermost discharge point for varying their tilted position.

2. A conveyer comprising a frame having its major portion extending substantially vertically and its lower portion extending at an angle thereto; a traveling conveyer movable in said frame; operating means for said conveyer; means for selectively discharging said articles at predetermined vertically spaced elevations; and a single means fixedly below said lowermost discharge point for tilting said articles prior to their discharge at any point.

3. A conveyor of the kind described comprising a frame extending substantially vertically; a traveling conveyor movable in said frame; articlesupporting means on said conveyer at spaced points therealong; means for automatically discharging said articles at predetermined vertically spaced discharge stations; and a single means pivotally mounted in the path of travel of said articles below the lowermost discharge station and fixed relative to said traveling conveyer to slidably engage with and tilt said articles.

i. A conveyor comprising a frame having a substantially vertically extending portion; an endless conveyer movable therethrough and provided with inclined package supports therealong; means for discharging said packages at predetermined vertically spaced dissignature.

AUGUST J. REBSTOCK. 

